Specializing in Luxury Real Estate on Hawaii Island

America’s most popular summer celebration is just about here, and I want to share some of my favorite happenings along Hawai‘i Island’s renowned Kohala Coast with you. The best of the best – a Big Island classic since 1989 – starts at 10:30 am on the beach fronting the Mauna Lani Bay Hotel & Bungalows.

Now in its 28th year, the event celebrates “Turtle Independence Day” with the release of Hawaiian Green Sea Turtles (honu) back into their ocean home. Working in collaboration with Oahu’s Sea Life Park, the hotel receives juvenile honu from the park that are too young to survive on their own and raises them in its lagoons until they reach a size that allows their release into the wild.

The honu are gathered from the lagoons at 10:30 am sharp and are paraded to the beach in nearly royal fashion. A ceremony featuring music and dance – hula, of course! – precedes the beloved creatures’ ocean release. Entertainment, marine educational displays, and food and beverage (for purchase) continue until noon.

Enchanted by this special location and Mauna Lani’s numerous amenities?

Many luxury residential neighborhoods exist here, each its own unique, private enclave. Contact me (see details below) for a current list of available properties. Here is one of my listings that’s set to close at the end of June. This is an exceptional beauty, but not to worry, there are more to come!

This contemporary architectural beauty borrows a bit from the past with its subtle design roofline. This beautiful home is located within Mauna Lani Resort’s Pauoa Beach community. The home is both modern in design and casually elegant with its fine details, including copper accents, Venetian plaster walls, Koa cabinetry, travertine and cumaru floors. Every element in this home has been skillfully crafted to create a refined simplicity in every space throughout the expansive residence.

Evening Fun & Fireworks

As the sun sets, revelers head to various beaches and oceanfront resorts along West Hawaii’s spectacular Kona/Kohala coastline (aka the “Gold Coast”).

A favorite place to enjoy a fiery sunset in paradise, as well as the fireworks display that follows at about 9 pm, is Lava Lava Beach Club in Waikoloa Beach Resort. Its central coast location provides the perfect spot to view fireworks at the next door Hilton Waikoloa Village Hotel, as well as those further north and south along the coastline.

Fireworks light up the night sky over Hawai‘i Island on 4th of July.

Meanwhile, in Kona, the 22nd Annual Kailua-Kona Independence Day Parade begins at 6 pm on Kuakini Highway near the Old Airport and continuing down to the waterfront on Ali‘i Drive and finishing at the Coconut Grove Marketplace. Be sure to stick around for the colossal firework show at 8 pm.